City police are investigating a recent spree of vehicle thefts, and thefts of items from cars and trucks.

“We think it’s a group of young teenage boys,” police Capt. Joe Todd said Wednesday. “It’s a crime of opportunity.”

Early Wednesday, authorities pursued a Nissan Pathfinder – one of two vehicles stolen from outside the same West Torquay Road home in recent nights – after the SUV was observed outside a convenience store at Memorial Drive and Sampson Street about 2:10 a.m.

A chase on Kilgore Avenue ended with the SUV crashing on railroad tracks after it had turned onto South Perdieu Road.

Three occupants of the car fled on foot. Witnesses said at least two ran through the nearby Youth Opportunity Center campus and into a wooded area.

A search of the surrounding area, involving police K-9s, did not result in apprehensions.

However, Todd said one of the juveniles, a 15-year-old Muncie boy, called his grandmother for a ride, saying he had been in a traffic accident. She apparently delivered him to police.

That youth – being held in the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center – told officers he didn’t know the names of those he had been traveling with in the stolen SUV, Todd said.

Accounts of witnesses – in some instances supported by surveillance video – suggest the teens in recent weeks have been targeting neighborhoods during the overnight hours, checking the doors of virtually all vehicles in the immediate area.

When a car or truck is found unlocked, the thieves steal property left inside. When that property includes the vehicle’s keys, they drive away with that as well.

“It’s unbelievable what people leave in ther cars, and (then) leave them unlocked,” the police captain said. “It’s very frustrating.”

A Honda Civic was also taken from outside the Torquay Road home, Todd said. It, like several other of the stolen vehicles, was later found abandoned.

He said the car thieves are “just riding around,” apparenty not involved in efforts to sell or scrap the stolen vehicles.

Similar thefts have been reported in Yorktown’s Evergreen West neighborhood, and in Anderson.

Todd estimated about 10 vehicles have been stolen in Muncie during the recent spree. Investigators believe the thieves might be targeting “complacent” neighborhoods with little crime, where residents might be more inclined to not lock their cars.

One of the cases being investigated involves the theft of a car on Glenwood Avenue in the early morning hours of July 26.

After finding a restaurant receipt in that vehicle after it was found abandoned, city police reviewed surveillance video from a local McDonald’s drive-thru window, where the thieves are believed to have purchased food.

Todd urged local parents to monitor the activities of juvenile members of their households.

“Somebody’s 15, 16, 17-year-olds are out roaming all night,” he said.

Anyone with information on the recent spree of thefts should call the Muncie Police Department’s investigations division at 765-747-4867.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.